


Lullaby of Memories

by flowersforgraves



Category: Machineries of Empire Series - Yoon Ha Lee
Genre: Dreams and Nightmares, Gen, No Dialogue, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-23 19:16:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17689256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowersforgraves/pseuds/flowersforgraves
Summary: Cheris sleeps, and dreams, and wonders whether she is herself.





	Lullaby of Memories

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Icie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Icie/gifts).



Cheris sleeps. 

( _She is falling endlessly through space, the void surrounding her, lifting her. The stars swirl around her, growing closer and closer until she is uncertain of her place, her body, her very self. She closes her eyes, and feels the kiss of a gentle breeze. When she opens her eyes again she is in an achingly familiar place she’s never been before, a farm, and the music of the stars is replaced by dissonant bird noises._ )

Cheris sleeps.

( _She dreams Jedao’s dreams. She hears her voice, Jedao’s voice, call out names -- Ruo, Khiaz, Teshet, they blur so fast she can’t understand them all. There are places she has never been that feel like home, there are things she does that happen instinctively, there are words and phrases in a language she doesn’t speak. Jedao’s dreams are tortured, hellish things, Hellspin Fortress and the black cradle and everywhere the deuce of gears emblazoned in red that turns to blood as she reaches out to touch it._ )

Cheris sleeps.

( _Or does Jedao dream her dreams? Does Jedao know her mother’s Mwen-dal face as she knows his mother’s Shparoi one? Does Jedao turn a calendrical sword on himself in his nightmares? Does Jedao find the math intuitive when he dreams, out of control as he inhabits a body not his own? Does Jedao know the terror and joy of formation instinct, and does he care?_ )

Cheris sleeps. 

( _She wears Jedao like a mask. She dreams of flying, and she remembers the feeling of her hands, Jedao’s hands, strangling a man to death. She dreams of cooking, and she remembers the tickle of goose feathers in her nose. She dreams of dying, over and over, sees Kujen smiling down at her, remembers the hopeless desperate panic of being alone for so long. She does not remember whether it is Jedao or Cheris who prefers meat to vegetables in Kel ration packs._ )

Cheris sleeps.

( _She is floating again through space. She does not know whether she is flying or falling. By all rights this dream should be a nightmare, but her waking world supplies enough stress. Sometimes she can hear Jedao’s voice in her ear, as if her shadow was still made of eyes, and sometimes she is alone in her head, and sometimes, like now, there is nothing between her and Jedao._ )


End file.
